Auto industry has Ford, Edison rolling in graves

May 7, 2014

I am deeply disappointed in the American automotive industry. Instead of offering us automobiles that push the envelope of automotive engineering, they are reduced to offering more and different electronic gimmicks, just more buttons, bright colored LEDs and beeps.

Not safer, more economical, less hazardous cars to transport our loved ones out into the world and carry them out and back home safely into our arms. No, just more buttons and toys.

The American automotive manufacturers are transforming their industry into an electronic carnival. All they are missing is the cotton candy and taffy, but it won't be long before they introduce a device that will replicate the sounds of a carnival, complete with the scent of the carnie; a mixture of the cotton candy, sausage and peppers, sweat, old canvas, Old Spice aftershave and all the cows, oxen, horses and hogs, chickens and ducks.

The incredibly detailed engineering that goes into all the gadgets seem to be designed to confuse the buyer and make him or her feel satisfied with their purchase and not distracted from the essence of the auto they have just spent a sum that a couple of decades ago would have bought a comfortable home in a decent neighborhood. Not a car that will deliver American families to their destinations safely, comfortably, dependably, efficiently and have a life expectantcy of over 10 years and 100,000 miles without spending so much time in the dealers shop that the owner is on a first-name basis with the mechanics and technicians at the dealership. I bet that Henry Ford and Thomas Edison roll over in their graves every time one of these mobile video games drives past the cemetery where they rest.

While many of us were halfway around the world from North America, we were reading magazines from home that presented the new cars being introduced to the American marketplace in our absence and dreaming of the magic moment when we would buy our very first new car, becoming that much more of a mature, taxpaying American. After all, we were now the American veterans, becoming the EMTs, firefighters, police and probation and corrections officers, the teachers, barbers, bankers, and every other activity, work or profession that comprise our American way of life.

So after spending several monsoon seasons among rice paddies and mountains that were solid rock without even a blade of grass growing on them, forget a bush to hide behind when the tracers are headed your way. So we believed that through our contributions and sacrifices, our nation would stand a little taller, be more of a world leader, but with honest humility in our success, never arrogant and boastful for that seems somehow un-American.